The new year has come, but we still have a few results of the previous year in stock. We will share them in the coming days. Next up is an interview with the founderRed Brix Wall by Fyodor Zaitsev and company partner Zakhar Serebryannikov.
Fyodor Zaitsev and Zakhar Serebryannikov
How was 2020 for the company?
FEDOR: The main topic of discussion in 2020 was the pandemic and its impact on business. Red Brix Wall is no exception. We quickly switched to remote work, built processes in a new way.
Remote work has its own specifics, its pros and cons — it is necessary to maintain constant awareness of the team and team spirit online. For the most part, the transition was as comfortable as possible for us, although some employees miss working in the office.
ZAKHAR: Overall, the year went well: our team became bigger and strengthened with new specialists. We continued to work on our games.
Important: in November, the company launched its third product, Global City, in a global release. This is a bodybuilder who demonstrates weekly growth and claims to become our flagship. We also did not forget about other products (Battle Arena and Park Town). They showed positive dynamics in 2020.
Global City
What new trends in your niche do you consider worthy of attention?
FEDOR:The mobile market is growing and developing. High—quality graphics, deep metagame and complex mechanics are the norm for the mobile market today. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to compete for the attention of users. So now more than ever it is important to choose the right guidelines for product development.
Zakhar: One of the most important issues of the past and the new year: what will happen to the market after Apple's changes regarding working with privacy. It is clear that this will greatly affect all mobile marketing (especially user acquisition), but how exactly?
I would also like to note the ongoing automation of user acquisition processes and tools. It started 4 years ago (for example, Google's Universal App Campaign was already launched then). In 2020, Facebook released the long-awaited Automated App Ads campaigns. I think mobile marketing will continue to move towards automation in 2021. Gradually, all players will switch to "smart" optimization and minimization of the human factor in advertising campaigns.
What new trends in the market as a whole would you note?
FEDOR: The main trend of the mobile market in 2021 is the rapid growth of mobile app downloads and overall user engagement in games, including a new audience influenced by the pandemic. As a result: a natural increase in profits in the mobile gaming segment.
Mass migration to remote work and distributed offices is the second most important trend, which will continue in 2021. Perhaps the need to maintain large offices will disappear, and coworking or small workspaces will replace the permanent office schedule 5/2. For example, our company considers such options.
ZAKHAR: The third trend I want to note is the active growth of other app stores: This demonstrates both the confrontation between Epic Games and Apple, as well as the development of Huawei's AppGallery. Perhaps in 2021 we will see the end of the bipolar world of app stores in the West. By the way, Red Brix Wall monitors the market situation within the framework of this trend: This year we have released our products in the AppGallery and in the Amazon Appstore. We are planning to release our games in the Galaxy Store in the near future.
What will be the stake in the development of the company in 2021?
ZAKHAR: The main goal next year is to continue working on our Global City product: we will introduce new features, improve the quality of the product and plan to pay great attention to marketing. And of course, we will support and develop Battle Arena and Park Town.
FEDOR: Additionally, together with our MGVC partners, we will begin work on a new product, which is still under the supervision of our R&D. The partnership with MGVC opens up many opportunities and additional options for us. We are glad that our relationship has become even stronger in 2020.
Park Town
What game releases are you interested in this year?
Zakhar: The best mobile releases of this year are definitely Genshin Impact and Eve Echoes. They demonstrate a new level and approach to creating mobile games on the global market.
This year I was really looking forward to The Last of Us Part II. My expectations were fully justified, despite the contradictory assessments of the press. A great and atmospheric game.
I also mention Hades, although I am not a fan of the bagel genre.
Fedor: For me personally, the 2020 releases were Cyberpunk 2077 and Half-Life: Alyx. If we talk about mobile products, I would like to join Zakhar, noting Genshin Impact. This is a game that can definitely be recommended for everyone who is involved in the development of mobile projects.
In conclusion, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year, may it be a year of opportunities and success!